Dinner
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Pressure cooker polenta with chicken apple sausage, bell peppers, and fresh thyme is creamy, filling, and a great main dish for busy weeknights!
Well, here we are, at the beginning of a new school year! Nothing big changes for me when school starts except for the feeling of productivity that slowly starts to come back after the lazy summer months. It’s nearly impossible for me to do much blogging in the summertime. I used to fight it, but this summer I decided to chill out a bit and not kill myself by trying to get 3 posts done per week. Since our foster baby came to us in May, I’ve felt a sense of accomplishment even posting 1 recipe per week, but now I feel like we’re on the edge of change. He’s in part-time daycare 3 days per week and I’m settling into a routine again. I’ve missed you my kitchen! I hope you’re ready to see a lot more of me.
I mentioned in a recent instagram post that my meals this summer have been far from exciting, but they’ve still been good, usually pretty nutritious, and friendly towards a baby who’s starting to devour solid foods. If you’ve been around Kitschen Cat for any amount of time, you know that I’m a one pot meal kind of girl. Yes, obviously, that one pot is the pressure cooker, but more than that, I’m talking about the number of separate dishes on our plate. I really don’t have the patience to make 3 separate dishes which is why most of my main dishes are all in one affairs. They almost always have a protein of some sort, a starch or grain or gluten, veggies, and maybe some dairy. It’s the only way to go in my opinion!
I started experimenting with this polenta recipe a few weeks ago and it quickly turned into one of Kev’s favorites! He’s a take his lunch to work 99.9 percent of the time kind of guy, and this polenta is an awesome lunch prep meal for me to quickly whip up and portion out.
For the sausage in this recipe, I like to use Costco’s chicken apple sausages because they’re incredibly tender, well seasoned, and have a touch of sweetness from the apples! They come in a 3 pack of 5 sausages each, so I like to always have some on hand for easy meals like this or throwing them on the grill really quick with some sweet potatoes and asparagus.
To make this dish, the only prep is to chop your onions, bell peppers, and sausage, then everything gets mixed together and cooked at high pressure for 7 minutes. The total time from opening your fridge to retrieve ingredients to taking your first bite is about 35-40 minutes. This includes the coming up to pressure time and the 5 minute natural release. I think that’s pretty good! And, only about 10 minutes of that time is active cooking time… the rest you can be catching up on New Girl or finishing the first book in the Outlander series (not that I’m doing either of those things right now…. *ahem*).
P:S: I thinly sliced the remaining sausage link and fried it in a little bit of oil to make the pretty crispy sausage bites for garnish. That part is totally optional, but I just wanted to let you know!
Pressure Cooker Polenta with Sausage and Peppers
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4
Description
Pressure cooker polenta with chicken apple sausage, bell peppers, and fresh thyme is creamy, filling, and a great main dish for busy weeknights!
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 tablespoons butter (affiliate)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (affiliate)
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
- 3 cups water
- 4 precooked chicken apple sausages, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1 cup uncooked polenta
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Melt butter and heat olive oil in pressure cooker, then add onion and bell peppers. Sauté until starting to soften, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add water, sausage, polenta, salt, pepper, and thyme.
- Stir, then lock lid and set to high pressure for 7 minutes.
- When time is up, let pressure naturally release for 5 minutes, then release all remaining pressure.
- Stir in heavy cream and grated parmesan cheese, then serve!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
Other Polenta Recipes You’ll Love
Savory Breakfast Polenta with Italian Sausage
Autumnal Veggies Over Creamy Polenta